The Defense Department is proposing to share some of its radio airwaves with the private sector, a nod to growing pressure from the wireless industry and the Obama administration for federal agencies to ease their control of valuable spectrum.

In a letter released by the Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday, the Department of Defense offers to share the airwaves it now dominates with spectrum-hungry wireless and Internet companies.

The military would rearrange its systems within that slice of spectrum as well as compress programs into the band that it would retain.

The FCC late Tuesday also launched a proceeding to gather public comments on a variety of proposals for how the FCC should auction those federally owned or already cleared airwaves to the wireless companies, including input on the Pentagon’s new proposal.

“We are committed to finding new and innovative strategies to expedite commercial access to additional spectrum,” FCC Acting Chairman Mignon Clyburn said in a statement. “I encourage all stakeholders to roll up their sleeves and help us to push this proceeding forward.”

The Defense Department uses the airwaves for programs such as pilot training and drone systems and has faced criticism from some in the industry and in Congress for resisting efforts to open those airwaves for commercial use to satisfy growing demands posed by data-hungry gadgets and services.

The Pentagon had pointed to its own need for airwaves as its use of drones and other reliance on wireless technology grows.

It also had estimated the process of moving its programs to new frequencies would cost more than $12 billion.

Under the new plan, the Defense Department drops the cost estimate to $3.5 billion by compromising on sharing slices of airwaves without completely clearing any of the spectrum bands.

In the letter, originally sent July 17 to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, which oversees federal airwaves, DOD Chief Information Officer Teresa Takai called the proposal “a workable balance to provide access to the 1755-1780 MHz band most desired by the commercial wireless industry while ensuring no loss of critical DoD capabilities.”

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